Mint Works Worker Placement Game First Impressions

Mint Works is a large game in a tiny little tin.

Very, very minimal.

Mint Works is a light and straightforward worker placement game. Its compact size makes it easy to put in your pocket and take it anywhere. Its simple rules make it easy to introduce new players to the genre of worker placement.

Mint Works Game Play

So there are a bunch of action cards laid out and a few buildings. Players get little Mint-looking tokens which are their ‘Workers’.

Players take turns placing their tokens on the cards to take the releated actions.

Some actions let you gain more Mint tokens or the start player token. Others let you take buildings etc

Now, I’m sorry but I can’t remember the terminology but I think you can take one of the available buildings and put it in front of you, face down, as a ‘Plan’.

Then in a later action, you can flip that Plan face up to build the Building side.

These buildings not only give you end-game points but some also give you game-long abilities.

Once everyone has spent all their Mints or passed, the round ends. The Mints are discarded from the cards and each player gains 1 Mint.

Once a player hits (I think) 10 points on their buildings the game end is triggered. The player with the most points wins.

Theme

Erm… No idea.

I don’t understand why it’s about Mints and in a Mint tin other than it’s small. I don’t get it.

Setup

Setup seems simple. Cards were laid out, and Mint Tokens were distributed. I’m not sure what it involved but it didn’t take long.

Components & Artwork

The components are minimal which is the point and it’s refreshing to have a decent game that’s not table hogging.

The artwork is very clean and simple and I do like it. But, with the game so basic I would have liked to have seen some really arty, maybe abstract and crazy art.

Ease of Teaching & Accessibility

Yep, this was easy. Not much there to teach really.

Of course, this makes it very accessible along with (almost) everything being open information. I think anyone could play this.

Mint Works Summary

This is OK I guess. Its a nice little engine building, worker placement game. I went third of 3 players so the action that was ‘Gain 2 Mints’ that had 2 spaces on it had gone. It did mean I got to take one of the ‘proper’ actions first but I was short on Workers that round

It felt like there was a clear strategy and losing out on extra workers early set me back from doing it.

I’m not sure how many action spaces were left in the box so it would be interesting to see what changes with the player count or if there are options to switch out different actions from game to game.

I’ve mentioned a few times I don’t really have a traditional worker placement game with Bora Bora being the closest. No reason why, I’m just yet to find one that I want to buy and keep.

I’ve also mentioned I prefer a decent-sized game that takes longer to play over these small and compact experiences.

So fun, but not for me.

Jesta ThaRogue